As I might have mentioned once or twice here over the last two years, my 18 year old son Brendan and I went on a Safari in South Africa and got back yesterday to Ft Mc.
On the way out on July 3rd we were delayed because London Heathrow Airport Terminal 4 had to be evacuated and closed because of a terrorist scare. Apparently a gentleman of East Indian extraction went through security and when they asked to look in his carry-on, he bolted into the airport. As they were unsure which East Indian man it was they closed and evacuated the whole terminal cancelling a whole pile of both incoming and out going flights, unfortunately we were caught in this for two days. We finally left Toronto on the 5th flew to London and then on to Johannesburg, we flew British Airways, on the flight from Toronto we were served more often in the first two hours than I had ever been served on an Air Canada fight including some 5-6 hours international ones. I will fly BA from now on when available. We arrived in Johannesburg the morning of the 7th, we were assisted by Equity Aviation through the passport/gun control process and were out of the airport in less than an hour. A note here there were other hunters using the much vaunted Tuffpack gun case, it appeared very small to me and kind of a pain to access. I used a hard golf club case with three side locks I paid about 1/3 of the price of a Tuffpack and it worked great.
We then drove about 5 hours to Pilansberg National Park where we stayed overnight, we were supposed to be there for three days, this is waht we missed because of the flight delays. We say Elephant, giraffes, hippo, plains game but no big cats.
Then we drove 8 hours to a huge ranch (125,000 acres)called Kalahari oryx in the desert, sighted our guns in and after dinner went to bed. The terrain is full of what they call mountains, after climbing for 3 days they sure felt like mountains but they would better be described as 500 -1000 foot piles of 200 miliion year old rocks. Something I didn't know is this is where kudu like to hang out, right on top at first and last light.
On our third stalk we had success, Brendan shot our first animal a blue wildebeest after a stalk of about a mile first through a dried riverbed with buffalo crap all over the place and then up a small mountain.
Next up later that day we went out into the dunes where after a realtively short walk I shot a wildebeest.
Next up a kind of funny thing happenned, my number one priority was a big Gemsbok, Nihan knew this, we looked at probably 150 gemsbok the first day and then driving back I spotted this one feeding at first he said it was a cow and then as we drove away he changed his mind that it was a good bull, so out Brendan went I stayed in the truck, at teh sound of two quick shots I walked out to where they were. Brendan had hit it too high with his first shot lying prone and then in desparation fired a second shot at it running and he literallu shot both back feet of the thing. Three more rounds it finally died, Nihan gave me a strange look as I walked up to them and told me it was a really big gemsbok, it measured a hair under 38 inches with big bases and just missed SCI gold medal. That made the rest of the week a bit pressure filled for him to find me a good one as well.
The next day we drove about 40 km to the back end of the property for Impala, we stalked three different herds before I finally shot this one. We belly crawled the last 80 yards and then I had a straight on shot of 259 yards(the longest shot either of us made), I missed my target slightly high and in through his mouth and out the back of his neck. Brendan hadn't came the last 50 yards or so and at my shot three other impala rams jumped up out of a little hole we hadn't seen, Brendan was able to come forward and make a nice running shot at his. My impala, although a proper mount is out made qualified for Gold medal in the SCI system.
On the way back to the lodge suddenly the PH stopped the truck about 200 yards past a herd of Buff bulls that had gotten in our way and commented that there was a very nice Mountain Reedbuck ram at the base of the mountain, I said OK we started away, he stopped the truck and then said it again. A third time he stopped the truck and said if I didn't want it he wanted to borrow my rifle, I said how much, he said $350 I said lets go. We backed up the truck to about 200 yards away, got down and I shot him off the sticks. This excited one of the buff which started our way, I had my back turned to them yelling at the kid to grab my rifle. Everyone thought that was pretty funny. The Mountain reedbuck is like #25 all time (apparently) and by far the biggest ever shot at this place, this animal excited the crew and Managers more than anything else we killed. It had 7 1/4 inch horns with very big bases...apparently.
Brendan really wanted a zebra, we spotted two with some kudu cows in this canyon, we drove around the small mountain, climbed up from the other side and then looking down on the them, Brendan made a very clean one shot kill.
The next day was Kudu day, early in the morning we climbed this small mountain that enclosed a box canyon that we looked down into, it had Buff, a Rhino, wildebeest, Waterbuck, kudu cows and calves and sprinbok. On another mountain on the same side of the canyon about 1 mile away was a kudu bull. We then dropped down and climebd the much higher mountain beside us, made our way to the point where we across from the bull. The PH said it's a shooter, but not a really big animal, I was pretty eager so I said OK. I kind of waddled up to a rock and 200 yards away accross this canyon was the bull, there was at least a 25 mph side wind, I held just in front of his back leg and hit him high in the shoulder. I didn't realize he wasn't standing on a level surface, I got on him very quickly with a second shot without enough lead but luckily I got him clean through the neck. He measured 46", not the biggest kudu, but by far the exciting hunting experience I've ever had.
Unfortunately for me I was also starting to get a flu that day, 4 moutains later and just before 6:00 pm Brendan got his kudu much bigger just over 51"
We were alternating stalks, it just so happened that Brendan got the bigger Kudu and Gemsbok and I got bigger small animals.
The next day we drove to the PH's own farm near Kimberly, by this time I was feeling really bad, fever, nose and cough, I could medicate for the mornings, but I was next to useless after about noon, to further complicate things, I was having a real hard time sleeping beacuse of the flu.
We both got nice Blesbok and then springbok.
The next day, was very difficult, we got out of the truck about 7:45 and went for a walk through the thorns to see what we could kick up, we walked about an hour to a big hill where the tracker had gone to try and spot game. I wanted a waterbuck or eland, we chased these Eland until noon back and forth over the small hills through the thorn bushes, the PH estimated we walked 5-6 kmthrough the thorn bushes. I finally after getting on the shooting sticks three times got my shot at an eland, they were coming up a little hill about 100 yards in front of me, the PH id's the bull(not hard) and then at the last second he grabbed me and said shoot the one on the left, all I can say is it was enormous, easily 1.5 times as big in the body as any moose I've ever seen. I was holding face on on the shoulder joint and then I remembered reading something saying a 375 was the minimum for a frontal shot on a big blue bull, so I committed a cardinal mistake. I moved the reticle about 6 inches closer to the neck, but not on the neck. I fired, hit him there, but then the herd ran past me broadside, but I wasn't sure which one I had shot so I didn't fire again. We never did find the Eland, an expensive mistake($1600 US), back at the lodge I read the perfect shot sequence on eland and I shot it "on purpose" in exactly the wrong spot, my bullet would have had to penetrate about three feet of meat to get to the vitals. By this time I was just wipped, shivering despite the fact it was over 20 c. Afer finding small drops of blood the PH very diplomatically said we have to pressure the animal now, I agreed with him 100 % that I wasn't up to it. The tracker followed the tracks for two days, but never saw the bull again.
Gemsbok, finally this was the last animal I had left to shoot and my first choice when I arrived, by this time we had looked at at least 600 gemsbok, but none were as good as Brendan's, I was pretty much stuck in the truck except short stalks, it was the end of the day when a good gemsbok showed up, it has very thick bases and 35.5 inch horns. I am not too vain to admit I shot it from the truck, I had climbed mountains, walked at least 50 kms in the 8 days, most of the time with a wicked flu, in RSA none of the cold remedies are the same as here, it was just rough. I figured I had logged enough miles on this middle aged overweight banker body and looked at enough Gemsbok to shoot the very best one I saw (except brendans) from the truck on the last day. Say what you want, it's still my favourite trophy and it will be in my basement in about 8 mths time.
We then went fishing for yellowfish the next day and then into Kimberly the last day to see the city and buy my wife something nice for supporting this trip and my accepting my obssessive behaviour about it for he last two years.
Here I am sitting in my garage in Fort McMurray Alberta, after flying 21,500 miles to get home thinking what a great trip, but home is pretty good too.
Now I plotting to take my wife next time and get the Eland, maybe a waterbuck and a bigger Kudu.
On the way out on July 3rd we were delayed because London Heathrow Airport Terminal 4 had to be evacuated and closed because of a terrorist scare. Apparently a gentleman of East Indian extraction went through security and when they asked to look in his carry-on, he bolted into the airport. As they were unsure which East Indian man it was they closed and evacuated the whole terminal cancelling a whole pile of both incoming and out going flights, unfortunately we were caught in this for two days. We finally left Toronto on the 5th flew to London and then on to Johannesburg, we flew British Airways, on the flight from Toronto we were served more often in the first two hours than I had ever been served on an Air Canada fight including some 5-6 hours international ones. I will fly BA from now on when available. We arrived in Johannesburg the morning of the 7th, we were assisted by Equity Aviation through the passport/gun control process and were out of the airport in less than an hour. A note here there were other hunters using the much vaunted Tuffpack gun case, it appeared very small to me and kind of a pain to access. I used a hard golf club case with three side locks I paid about 1/3 of the price of a Tuffpack and it worked great.
We then drove about 5 hours to Pilansberg National Park where we stayed overnight, we were supposed to be there for three days, this is waht we missed because of the flight delays. We say Elephant, giraffes, hippo, plains game but no big cats.
Then we drove 8 hours to a huge ranch (125,000 acres)called Kalahari oryx in the desert, sighted our guns in and after dinner went to bed. The terrain is full of what they call mountains, after climbing for 3 days they sure felt like mountains but they would better be described as 500 -1000 foot piles of 200 miliion year old rocks. Something I didn't know is this is where kudu like to hang out, right on top at first and last light.
On our third stalk we had success, Brendan shot our first animal a blue wildebeest after a stalk of about a mile first through a dried riverbed with buffalo crap all over the place and then up a small mountain.
Next up later that day we went out into the dunes where after a realtively short walk I shot a wildebeest.
Next up a kind of funny thing happenned, my number one priority was a big Gemsbok, Nihan knew this, we looked at probably 150 gemsbok the first day and then driving back I spotted this one feeding at first he said it was a cow and then as we drove away he changed his mind that it was a good bull, so out Brendan went I stayed in the truck, at teh sound of two quick shots I walked out to where they were. Brendan had hit it too high with his first shot lying prone and then in desparation fired a second shot at it running and he literallu shot both back feet of the thing. Three more rounds it finally died, Nihan gave me a strange look as I walked up to them and told me it was a really big gemsbok, it measured a hair under 38 inches with big bases and just missed SCI gold medal. That made the rest of the week a bit pressure filled for him to find me a good one as well.
The next day we drove about 40 km to the back end of the property for Impala, we stalked three different herds before I finally shot this one. We belly crawled the last 80 yards and then I had a straight on shot of 259 yards(the longest shot either of us made), I missed my target slightly high and in through his mouth and out the back of his neck. Brendan hadn't came the last 50 yards or so and at my shot three other impala rams jumped up out of a little hole we hadn't seen, Brendan was able to come forward and make a nice running shot at his. My impala, although a proper mount is out made qualified for Gold medal in the SCI system.
On the way back to the lodge suddenly the PH stopped the truck about 200 yards past a herd of Buff bulls that had gotten in our way and commented that there was a very nice Mountain Reedbuck ram at the base of the mountain, I said OK we started away, he stopped the truck and then said it again. A third time he stopped the truck and said if I didn't want it he wanted to borrow my rifle, I said how much, he said $350 I said lets go. We backed up the truck to about 200 yards away, got down and I shot him off the sticks. This excited one of the buff which started our way, I had my back turned to them yelling at the kid to grab my rifle. Everyone thought that was pretty funny. The Mountain reedbuck is like #25 all time (apparently) and by far the biggest ever shot at this place, this animal excited the crew and Managers more than anything else we killed. It had 7 1/4 inch horns with very big bases...apparently.
Brendan really wanted a zebra, we spotted two with some kudu cows in this canyon, we drove around the small mountain, climbed up from the other side and then looking down on the them, Brendan made a very clean one shot kill.
The next day was Kudu day, early in the morning we climbed this small mountain that enclosed a box canyon that we looked down into, it had Buff, a Rhino, wildebeest, Waterbuck, kudu cows and calves and sprinbok. On another mountain on the same side of the canyon about 1 mile away was a kudu bull. We then dropped down and climebd the much higher mountain beside us, made our way to the point where we across from the bull. The PH said it's a shooter, but not a really big animal, I was pretty eager so I said OK. I kind of waddled up to a rock and 200 yards away accross this canyon was the bull, there was at least a 25 mph side wind, I held just in front of his back leg and hit him high in the shoulder. I didn't realize he wasn't standing on a level surface, I got on him very quickly with a second shot without enough lead but luckily I got him clean through the neck. He measured 46", not the biggest kudu, but by far the exciting hunting experience I've ever had.
Unfortunately for me I was also starting to get a flu that day, 4 moutains later and just before 6:00 pm Brendan got his kudu much bigger just over 51"
We were alternating stalks, it just so happened that Brendan got the bigger Kudu and Gemsbok and I got bigger small animals.
The next day we drove to the PH's own farm near Kimberly, by this time I was feeling really bad, fever, nose and cough, I could medicate for the mornings, but I was next to useless after about noon, to further complicate things, I was having a real hard time sleeping beacuse of the flu.
We both got nice Blesbok and then springbok.
The next day, was very difficult, we got out of the truck about 7:45 and went for a walk through the thorns to see what we could kick up, we walked about an hour to a big hill where the tracker had gone to try and spot game. I wanted a waterbuck or eland, we chased these Eland until noon back and forth over the small hills through the thorn bushes, the PH estimated we walked 5-6 kmthrough the thorn bushes. I finally after getting on the shooting sticks three times got my shot at an eland, they were coming up a little hill about 100 yards in front of me, the PH id's the bull(not hard) and then at the last second he grabbed me and said shoot the one on the left, all I can say is it was enormous, easily 1.5 times as big in the body as any moose I've ever seen. I was holding face on on the shoulder joint and then I remembered reading something saying a 375 was the minimum for a frontal shot on a big blue bull, so I committed a cardinal mistake. I moved the reticle about 6 inches closer to the neck, but not on the neck. I fired, hit him there, but then the herd ran past me broadside, but I wasn't sure which one I had shot so I didn't fire again. We never did find the Eland, an expensive mistake($1600 US), back at the lodge I read the perfect shot sequence on eland and I shot it "on purpose" in exactly the wrong spot, my bullet would have had to penetrate about three feet of meat to get to the vitals. By this time I was just wipped, shivering despite the fact it was over 20 c. Afer finding small drops of blood the PH very diplomatically said we have to pressure the animal now, I agreed with him 100 % that I wasn't up to it. The tracker followed the tracks for two days, but never saw the bull again.
Gemsbok, finally this was the last animal I had left to shoot and my first choice when I arrived, by this time we had looked at at least 600 gemsbok, but none were as good as Brendan's, I was pretty much stuck in the truck except short stalks, it was the end of the day when a good gemsbok showed up, it has very thick bases and 35.5 inch horns. I am not too vain to admit I shot it from the truck, I had climbed mountains, walked at least 50 kms in the 8 days, most of the time with a wicked flu, in RSA none of the cold remedies are the same as here, it was just rough. I figured I had logged enough miles on this middle aged overweight banker body and looked at enough Gemsbok to shoot the very best one I saw (except brendans) from the truck on the last day. Say what you want, it's still my favourite trophy and it will be in my basement in about 8 mths time.
We then went fishing for yellowfish the next day and then into Kimberly the last day to see the city and buy my wife something nice for supporting this trip and my accepting my obssessive behaviour about it for he last two years.
Here I am sitting in my garage in Fort McMurray Alberta, after flying 21,500 miles to get home thinking what a great trip, but home is pretty good too.
Now I plotting to take my wife next time and get the Eland, maybe a waterbuck and a bigger Kudu.
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